Park City police called as Deer Valley skiers fight in a lift line

The Park City Police Department responded to a report of a fight in a Deer Valley Resort lift line on Sunday morning, describing circumstances that are unusual even during the busiest times at the community’s mountain resorts.

The authorities received the complaint at 10:40 a.m. The resort’s ski patrol had separated the two skiers, according to Police Department logs.

Phil Kirk, a police captain, said the authorities were told the confrontation started after one of the skiers blocked the other one from getting into the line at the Carpenter Express lift, an important lift that brings skiers from Snow Park Lodge toward Silver Lake Village.

Kirk said the two skiers started to argue, eventually yelling at each other. They skied down a run and then continued to argue at the bottom, Kirk said. The skier who was accused of blocking the person in the lift line took off his skis, an act that led the other skier to tackle him and hold him down, Kirk said. The skier who was being tackled punched the other person as he was being taken down, the captain said.

Kirk said the skier who tackled the other person told the police he was worried the other skier was preparing to punch him since he took off his skis as the two were yelling at each other.

Ski patrollers contacted the police. Kirk said neither of the skiers was injured. Neither wanted to press charges, Kirk said.

The person who tackled the other skier is 50 and from the Snyderville Basin while the other person is 57 and from San Diego.